The "Jerry Garcia" of Arizona Politics - Mark Brnovich

I illustrated this psychedelic portrait of Attorney General Mark Brnovich for the Phoenix New Times, because, evidently, the AG followed the Grateful Dead, back in the day.

Art Director Peter Storch suggested we illustrate him to look "extra groovy, so I gave him some "Greg Brady" hair, muttonchops, and a eye popping tie dyed background. I get all the fun assignments!

After the cover published the AG's office called to say Brnovich thought the portrait was funny. Glad to hear he has a good sense of humor!

What a long strange trip it's been, indeed!

Pen and ink portrait time lapse video

Pen & Ink portrait - timelapse from Graham Smith on Vimeo.

A 2 minute time lapse video of the creation of a pen and ink portrait form start to finish.

I'm lucky to illustrate the 20 Questions interview feature in Worth Magazine each issue. Sometimes I film myself drawing. Over time, I've streamlined the inking process, see if you can see how I "cheat" when inking portraits on a deadline.

A White Cop's Killing of an Unarmed Black Man

With all the shit going down lately, I knew I'd be illustrating one of these terrible police murder stories sooner or later.  "Officer Friendly" was the headline I was assigned to illustrate.

Read the cover story here, by Stephen Lemons.

The bad cop was draw with charcoal, and colored in Photoshop. I colored 3 versions of this illustration. Which one would you choose?